The effects of ageing on self-reported aggression measures are partly explained by response bias

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have suggested that the age-personality relationship may be partly explained by age-related changes in response bias. In the present study, we analysed how age affected social desirability and acquiescence, and how this effect impacted the age-aggression relationship. Method: We used the Indirect-Direct Aggression Questionnaire, which provides response bias and physical, verbal and indirect aggression scores independently of each other. We applied this test to a sample of 616 individuals aged between 18 and 96 (M = 49.24, SD = 24.81) and analysed the relationships between age and aggression measures with and without response bias. Results: We found that social desirability and acquiescence increased by between one and two standard deviations between adulthood and old age. This affected the age-aggression relationship for all aggression scales and, especially for verbal and indirect aggression, whose relationships with age decreased from r = -.192 and r = -.309 to r = .012 and r = -.159, respectively, when response biases were controlled. Conclusions: When response bias and, in particular social desirability, are not controlled, elderly people tend to show aggression scores that are considerably lower than their true aggression levels.